chapter02 · 042-ep42

Episode 42: An Intruder in the Lower Layers

【Ojou-sama's fast as FUCK!?】

【She's nearly leaving her floating camera behind lol】

【Isn't it designed to get pulled along by its owner's mana so it can't go beyond a certain range? lol】

【That design probably assumes a 'normal' explorer...】

Karin hurtled down the dungeon passage toward the scream. After rounding a couple of corners, she saw them.

"GRUAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Ah... ah..."

A girl in black equipment sat collapsed in a lower-layer passage. Looming over her, its eyes bloodshot, was a huge monster.

A giant rex. A dinosaur-shaped monster some three meters tall, with hard scales and vicious claws. Alongside the minotaur, it ranked among the strongest monsters in the lower layers. And the mana surrounding this one was on a different level from an ordinary giant rex.

An enhanced variant: it had devoured other monsters and grown more powerful than a boss. Relatively common as irregularities went, and for that reason one of the dungeon's cruelties most likely to kill an explorer.

"N-no... NOOOOOOOO!"

Its fangs gleamed with mana worthy of a lower-layer boss. The girl screamed as she realized she was about to die—

DOGOSHAAAAAAAAA!

"That was too fuckin' close! ...Desu wa! Just in time, desu no!"

The enhanced giant rex's upper body vanished. Karin had delivered a flying <Recoil-Free Cannon> kick at a speed worthy of a cruise missile.

"Phew. You were nearly departed-sama. Are you hurt?"

Karin held out a hand. The long-haired girl stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Huh? Ah, a d-dress...? Am I hallucinating...? W-wait... Karin ojou-sama!? The real one!?"

【She thinks she's hallucinating lol】

【Well, when the upper half of an enhanced variant stronger than a boss suddenly disappears and an ojou-sama in a frilly dress appears in the lower layers...】

【But that REALLY was down to the wire!】

【Even the thug inside ojou-sama almost burst out!】

【↑ The thug's always showing, though】

【She kicked it to death before we could even comment lmao】

【Anyone but Karin ojou-sama would've been too late!】

【OJOU-SAMA IS SO COOOOOOOL!】

【Ojou-sama has saved another person!】

【How Elegant, desu no! (Unironically)】

【I donated too much the other day so I'm holding back, but I want to send another offering so bad...!】

While chat celebrated, the girl in black remained dazed for a moment, as though dreaming. When she finally realized she'd been saved, her eyes filled with tears.

"Ah... hic... waaah... Th-thank you for saving meeeee! I-I really thought I was going to diiiie... Waaaaaah!"

"Oh, my. You're quite a crybaby for a lower-layer explorer, aren't you? Even though you're taller than I am."

【Oho~】

【Very nice indeed~】

【Careful! Best friend-chan will get jealous!】

【Clip the cheating scene, desu wa!】

【The yuri pigs and clip vultures are having a field day!】

【Is it feeding time at the zoo?】

The girl clung to Karin and cried her heart out. Karin caught her, and chat went wild for a completely different reason. But then—

"...Hm?"

Karin frowned, puzzled by the girl clinging to her. Her eyes widened in shock.

"This presence... Don't tell me you're only around level thirty!?"

【Huh?】

【Level 30?】

【Karin ojou-sama's saying something weird again...】

【That can't be right lol】

【Level 30's a beginner who'd be in danger even wandering around the deeper parts of the upper layers lol】

【No competent party would bring one into the lower layers!】

【Wait, Karin ojou-sama can read levels just by touching people? lol】

【Well, that part wouldn't surprise me coming from her... But 30's too implausible...】

【Even if she can read it, she probably meant level 300...】

Chat was understandably skeptical. Yet—

"Huh...? H-how do you know my level...?"

【Huh】

【W-wait, you're kidding, right...?】

【No, that's not right!? Why is a level 30 in the lower layers!?】

【Even a pitfall irregularity shouldn't land a beginner down here. I can't even laugh】

【Don't tell me those people who just ran away...】

【Have we stumbled onto something really bad...?】

The girl confirmed Karin's guess, staring at her as if she were some kind of apparition. Chat shuddered.

"What in the world is going on here, with those people who just fled and all...?"

A black shell design gleamed on the girl's arm: the emblem of Black Shell. Looking at the armband that marked her as a member of the same clan as the foulmouthed explorers who'd fled, Karin rubbed the back of the girl who still couldn't stand and gently asked her to explain.